The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, on Tuesday, talked tough, saying any judge who failed to deliver the required number of judgments in a quarter would be shown the way out of the bench.
The CJN issued the warning while addressing the 3rd Annual National Judicial Council ,NJC, Conference on Judges’ Performance Evaluation holding in Abuja.
She lamented that at the last meeting of the performance evaluation committee, there was a reduction in number of cases disposed as some judicial officers failed to deliver a single judgment in one quarter, which she said, is simply unacceptable.
“Unless we can justly, speedily and effectively execute our roles as judicial officers, the populace will lose confidence in the judiciary as it is mostly believed rightly or wrongly that the judicial process is often painstakingly slow and tedious, delayed justice is denied justice”, she said.
The CJN called on Judges to embrace the culture of excellence and accountability as well as being in charge of their courtroom, maximizing the use of case management system and fostering an environment where constructive feedback is valued and acted upon.
Performance metrics, she said, should not merely be about speed but also about the quality and impact of the decisions of judges.
On the increasing number of pending cases and low disposition rates, Kekere-Ekun disclosed that, “As of the 1st quarter of 2024, we had a total of 243,253 cases pending in our superior courts of record, exclusive of the Supreme Court. This total comprised 199,747 civil cases and 43,506 criminal cases.
“Therefore, it is imperative for all of us to take a serious note of this alarming situation and refocus our attention towards enhancing our judicial performance”, Justice Kekere-Ekun added.
She encouraged Judges to explore information technology options and case management innovations to enhance judicial performance adding that, the introduction of digital case management systems, the Judicial Performance Evaluation Software (JPES), virtual courtrooms, e-filing systems, digital databases, web seminars, online meetings and advanced research engines provide a myriad of tools for efficiency in case disposition.
The CJN said, the increase of the salaries and allowances of Judicial Officers by President Bola Tinubu was a remarkable achievement as the improvement in the welfare of judicial officers is a step in the right direction to promote the independence of the judiciary and will also have impact on the professionalism, quality and pace of justice in the country.
To enhance the effectiveness and integrity of the nation’s judicial system, members of the legal profession, she noted, must continually strive for mastery and excellence of the craft, adding that, judicial officers must carry out their duties with integrity and deep sense of responsibility to restore public trust in the judiciary.
She said, looking inward and identify areas of improvement in the performance of judicial duties is the only way that a shared goal of an effective justice system that upholds the four cardinal principles of Independence, Transparency, Accountability and Efficiency can be achieved.
According to Kekere-Ekun the NJC performance evaluation committee which is saddled with the responsibility of evaluating the performances of judicial officers by assessing the quarterly returns of cases of Judges in the superior courts of records in Nigeria has recorded success.
She said, the theme of the conference, “Judge Craft, performance and the way forward” encapsulates the core of the professional endeavors of Judges, their aspirations and desire for excellent services delivery in Justice dispensation and administration in the Nigerian judiciary.
Earlier in his speech, the chairman of the six-member performance evaluation committee, the Emir of Lafia a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justices Sidi Bage Muhammad I,had lamented the consistently low performance of some judicial officers despite the continuous guidance given by his Committee.
This situation, he disclosed, informed the decision of the NJC, at its 106th meeting that henceforth, any Judicial Officer who is assessed as having persistently poor performance should be identified and recommended by the Committee for removal from office.
He reiterated that the purpose of the Committee is not to witch-hunt, intimidate, oppress or create fear in the minds of Judges in the course of performing their constitutional and statutory judicial duties, but seeks to support judicial officers as they expeditiously discharge their adjudicatory responsibilities competently, diligently and in accordance with their oaths of office.
“However, the Committee does not and will not tolerate repeated acts of non-performance due to indolence, nonchalance or impunity as may be inferred from some of the returns submitted by our judicial officers and even the submission of false returns by a few. These practices must stop.
“In furtherance of its mandate, the committee continues to hold show cause meetings which provide heads of courts and individual Judges the opportunity to engage with the Committee and jointly work towards developing lasting solutions aimed at enhancing performance”, he said.
He added that his committee has also established a commendation and query register, developed guidelines on performance evaluation, and continued to implement the Judges’ performance evaluation software, which enables the online submission of quarterly returns.
Looking at the way forward, he said, the Committee is working hard to establish a new system for the evaluation of judicial officers, which will focus on both qualitative and quantitative indicators.
He said, the Performance Evaluation Committee was established by the NJC pursuant to its powers as provided in Item 21, Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and in 2003, the decision to establish the Performance Evaluation Committee as a Standing Committee of the Council was deemed critical, sequel to a recommendation in the report submitted by the Justice Kayode Eso Committee, which found that urgent action was required to improve the performance and ethical conduct of Judicial Officers nationwide.
Other members of the committee which has the mandate of evaluating, assessing, monitoring and supervising the performance and general conduct of Judicial Officers in the discharge of their judicial functions and the administration of justice are Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, as Vice-Chairman with Justice A. D. Yahaya, Justice B. B. Kanyip, Justice K. Zannah and Hajiya Fatima Nana Mede as members.
